Steam-power plant and the like.



1 A. E. GUY. I STEAM POWER PLANT AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.30, 1908.

1,006,477. Patented 001211911.

2 SHEET8BHEBT 1.

A. B. GUY. STEAM-POWER PLANT AND fIHB LIKE,

1 APPLICATION FILED APR. 80, 1908.

Patented 00112 11911.

2 BHBETS-BHBET 2.

VIII!!! H 5 Inventor:

1 IV M Alt .5

f UNITED sTATEs PATENT,

ALBERT E. GUY, oE TRENTON, N W JERSEY, AssIGNoE o DE LAVAL STEAM TURBINE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORBORA'IIONOF NEW- JERSEY.

" STEAM-POWER LANT AND THE IKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

- Application fl1ed Apri130,1908. Serial No. 430,041.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT E. GUY, acitizen of the United States of Americafand a resident of Trenton, county of Mercer, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in- Steam- Power Plants and the Like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to steam power plants and the like and comprises two steam motors,'the second employing as its work.

ing fluid the exhaust from the first motor, such first motor being one which ordinarily operates intermittently, or. under a variable load, and an accumulator interposedbetween the motors, and comprising means for spraying liquid contained within said accumula'tor into the workin fluid exhausted from the first motor-into saldaccumulator, whereby surplus; heatenergy, available when thefirst of said motors is delivering a relatively large amount of exhaust'steam, is stored up' to be given oif later when such first'motor is giving off a much less quantity of exhaust steam. 1 I a My invention also comprlses' the construction of this accumulator.

It is well known thatgt'urbine steam motors are particularly efficient, as compared with reciprocating steam, motors, when operating on low pressure steam, provided they work at fairly constant load. For thisreason it has been proposed to discharge the exhaust steam from a recip'rocating engine into a turbine, the latter preferablyworking condensing and often receiving its steam atv stant load is much-more eificient than a low pressure'cylinder would be besides being much less bulky and lessexpensive, But where the first or high pressure motor 0p erates" very intermittently, as for example in the case of mining engines, elevator and. hoisting engines, rolling mill engines, etc.,-

- it has not been practicable to operate a turgines owing to the extremely 'irregular' de-' livery of the steam to the turbine, whichbine by the steam exhausted -fron1 such 'enmakes it practically im ossible for the tur-- bine to carry a load, i supplied from the intermittently operated engine 'alone,and

overcome.

an accumulatorv 'suchas' referred to inter,-

oinitted but it wi will be supplied to the primary motor in the I v efficient in operation. By interposing an accumulator, however, these difficulties are The accumulator may be a very simple apparatus, comprising avessel adapted to Withstand the. relatively low 7 pressures to which it. willordinarily be subjected, havin means within it for mixing water with t e steam received by it from the intermittently operating engine, and 5- having a connection through which steam may be supplied from it to .the second motor" or turbine. In the accompanying drawings I illustrate such a system' In said drawings: Figure 1 shows in elepower system comprising a primarymotor and secondary motor, the 'former/ illus trated as being a reciprocating engine, and the latter-illustrated as being a turbine, with I posed betweenthese motors; Fig. "2 shows a' lator, on a larger scale; Fig. 3 shows a siniilar sectionof analternative form'hf aCcumulator. In" Fi' 1 a steam generator is Ii be understood that steam usual manner. 1

Referring first to Fig. 1, A designates the or less intermittently'-that is to say,

' either started and stopped frequently orelse operates on a fluctuatin load, B designates the exhaust. pipe thereoand C the accumulator. I designates a pipe for conveying steam from this accumulator to the 'second-, ary motor J -While it is, ina broad sense,

immaterial whether this motor J.. be a recip-.

' Patented Oct. '24, 1911. v

in any event makes'the turbine relatively in-fl.

7o vation, and more or less diagrammatically, a

-86 primary motor which usually operates .more

rocating motor or a turbine,v in. general. it

will be preferable have suchys'eeondairy motor a turbine. The accumulator C may be either of the construetion shown :in'Fig.

3-, or of any other suitable construction.

struction 0? such accumulator, sai accumu latoreomprises, as will beseen; a closed Yes- .sel having the-inlet connection B and the putletronnection I and havir'ig normally within it'a greater or less bodyofflwater, ac 1 5 cording tocircumstances. For minglin entering steam'with'this water I will ommonly use means for converting the water into a spray filling more or less completely the upper portion of vessel C. To this end 110 Referrin now to Fi 2*showin' oneconp I- have shown in Fig. 2 a perforated coil spray pipe H to which water is supplied by a rocombine with and absorb the steam entering said chamber through pipe B.

As will be understood readily, during-periods'when relatively large quantities of. steam are coming from the primary motor A through pipe B into the chamber C, a

considerable proportion of this steam will be." condensed by the water spray in chamber C, the quantity of water in said chamber increasing and the pressure and temperature within said vessel rising more or less. Dur ing periods when less steam is being delivered fromthe primary motor A than is.desired or required for the operation of the secondary motor J, the water in vessel G will i evaporate, supplying steam to the secondary motor in excess of what may be coming over from the primary motor-at the instant; Theamount of steam which may be so supplied to the secondary motor in excess of what is delivered by the primary motor, is of course dependent upon the amount of water in; vessel C;.bu.t said vessel may be made of great or small capacity according to the conditions which ordinarily obtain in the operation of the plant;'and thus it ispossible to operate motor J with steam at nearly constant pressure and to sup ly to such motor J an amount of steam su stantially. corresponding to the average amount of steam deliveredbythe primary motor.

Location of the circulating pump F outside of'vessel C is exceedingly desirable and r is an important feature of my invention,

since it is thenrelatively easy to drive the said pump, and also to kee it in working order, and it is quite feasible at times to stop the operation of. this circulating pump and make such temporary repairs and replacements as ma be done in a short space of time, even while the secondary motor J is operating, the amount of condensed steam Which can be accumulated in vessel C being, ordinarily, sufiicient'to operate the secondary motor J for a time, evenif the supply of steam from the primary motor A is dis. continued altogether.

In Fig. 3 I illustrate a form of. accumulator I consider preferable to that shown in Fig. 2. The accumulator vessel in itself is of substantially the same construction as shown in'Fig. 2, but to reduce the velocity with which the stream enters said accumu-- action of .a high velocity jet of steam upon the body of water in the accumulator, and also .to prolong the period of contact .between the steam and the water spray in the accumulator, steam is delivered from the .lator, and so both to avoid the disturbing .pipe' B- to the interior of the accumulator,

through an expansioniiozzle M. Also, to prolong the period durlng which any particular increment of the Water discharged from the spray pipe is exposed directly to being carried off with the steam passing out through pipe I, I have provided a bafiie, O guarding the mouth of this pipe The operation of this form of accumulator will obviously be the same asof that shownin Fig. 2, so thatno further description of the \operation is required. preferably provi mulator with a water supply pipe P and a drainpipe Q, both suitably valved and I preferably provide shut off valves K and L between the pump and the accumulator. I also preferably provide the accumulator with a suitable gage glass or other level indicator R. v

- I use the term steam in to designate any "condensable vaporous working fluid. It may either be Water vapor or the vapor of any other of the workde bothforms of accu- -as employed hereing fluids commonly employed in heat engines, such forexample as hydrocarbon vapor, ether, etc. Spraying the Water. into the upper portion of the accumulator also facilitates greatly the conversion of water into steam, making such conversion much more rapid than when evaporation takes place from the surface of the solid body of liquid,

What I claim is '1. A steam power plant comprising in combination a primary motor, a secondary motor, a closed. chamber adapted to contain liquid, conduits connecting said chamber with the exhaust outlet of the primary motor, and with the inlet of the secondary m0- tor, and spraying means within said chamber connected to the liquid space in the lower part of said chamber and arranged to discharge liquid drawn from .such space, as a spray, upwardly into the upper part or steam space of said chamber.

2. A steam power plant comprising in combination a primary motor, a secondary motor, a closed chamber adapted to contain liquid, conduits connecting said chamber with the exhaust outlet of the primary. motor and with the inlet of the secondary mothe exhaust outlet of the primary motor and with the inlet of the secondary motor, pumping means external to said chamber arranged to draw liquid from the lower portion thereof, and spraying means located within said chamber and arranged to direct spray into I the upper part orsteam space thereof and connected to said pumping means to receive liquid therefrom.

4. A steam power plant comprising in combination a primary mot-or, a secondary motor, a closed chamber adapted to contain liquid, conduits connecting said chamber with the exhaust outlet of the primary Inotor and with the inlet of the secondary motor,'pumping means arranged to draw liq; uid from the lower portion of said chamber, and upwardly-directed spraying means arranged to I discharge spray into the upper part of said chamber and connected to said pumping means to receive liquid therefrom.

5. An accumulator for steam power systems such as described, comprising a closed vessel having steam inlet and discharge openmgs, an upwardly directed spraying device, and means for drawing liquid from the lower portion of such accumulator and delivering the same to said spraying device.

6. An accumulator for steam power systems such as described, comprising a closed vessel having steam inlet and discharge openings, a spraying device, and an external pump for drawing liquid from the lower portion of such accumulator anddelivering the same to said spraying device.

7. An accumulator for steam power systems such as described, comprising in combi-- nation a closed vessel, an expansion nozzle adapted for connection to a source of supply of steam, a spraying device, means for drawing li vessel.

'ing witnesses.

v quid -from the lower portion of the accumu ator'and delivering the same to said spraymg device, a steam discharge connection, and means guarding such connection against the passage of free liquid thereto. g

'8. An accumulator for steam power'systems such as described, comprising in combination a closed vessel, an expansion nozzle adapted for connection to a source of supply of steam, a spraying device, means for- 7 drawing liquid from the lower portion of the accumulator and delivering the same to said spraying device, a steam discharge conn'ectionand a battle guarding such discharge connection. I v

9. An accumulator for steam power systems such as desc-ribed, comprising a closed vessel having steam inlet and discharge openings, an upwardly =directed spraying device arranged to project'above the liquid level of said vessel, and means for drawing liquid from the low portionpf such accumulator and delivering the same to such spraying device.

10. An accumulatorfor steam power systems such as described, comprising a closed ,vessel adapted to contain water of condensation and having steam inlet and discharge openings, means for spraying water into the space above the liquid in such vessel, such means connected with the lower portion of the vessel to draw water therefrom, and an expansion device. communicating with the inlet opening and arranged to directenter ing steam toward the surface of water 1n said vessel.

11. An accumulator forsteam power systems, such as described, comprising a closed vessel adapted to'contai'n water of condensation, and having steam inlet and dischar e openings, means forsprayingwater into t e I space above the liquid in such vessel, con-. 0

nected with the lower portionvof the vessel to draw water therefrom, and an expansion nozzle communicating with the inlet opening and arranged to direct entering steam toward the surface of the water in said Intestimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscrib 

